My wish came true! The First Lady wears vintage!

When President Obama took office, I had sights on Michelle. Why? I truly felt she could make a difference in the world of thrift. Maybe it was her personal background. Or maybe I sensed she was not afraid to make a statement.

I made various attempts to contact her to endorse thrift shopping and join us in petitioning to honor a commemorative, American Thrift Store Month. We have a Frozen Food Month - that'd be March - so I thought it not asking too much. I've loads of schemes: grassroots designers recycling thrift sweaters and men's shirts, thrift fashion week, a parade of homes outfitted in thrift, daily tips on thrift...

But I can only imagine there are thousands of people attempting to have the First Lady endorse their cause.

Imagine my delight when the news hit the celebrity circuit that Michelle Obama wore a vintage dress to a holiday event! Some are claiming she is the first of her line to wear vintage. I'm not really certain if that could be true for it hasn't been that long ago that wearing old or reused items was considered tacky by culture at large. Think about how Coco Channel got her start.

Here is Michelle Obama is in a beautiful design circa 1950's. Bought at New York Vintage in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, co-owner Jon Schneck noted, "Other dresses from our archive have been scheduled for use by the first lady later this year". What! More vintage is to follow?

This dress is classic, posh, elegant, feminine, and full of grace and a delicious dignity! Yes! Dignity and style do not need to be enemies when it comes to womens fashion! Tears of joy are forming in my eyes! Look at her! A timeless beauty!

Thank you Mrs. Obama. I certainly am eager to see your next vintage ensemble and have no doubt you will pull it off in spectacular style.

The Great American Apparel Diet

If you’re a true lover of reuse, I encourage you to go on a diet that you cannot fail. Promised glory!

You’re laughing right?

It’s The Great American Apparel Diet and it started on September 2, 2010. It’s a year-long pledge to forgo buying new apparel from the conventional retail market. (You have wiggle room with foundations and socks/tights).

To be honest, I’m embarrassed I just learned about it. I will swear that my pledge is retroactive to September 2nd and far beyond.

Here’s how they explain it:

“The Great American Apparel Diet, what is it? We are a group of women and two men who have decided to go on a diet of sorts. A fast really. We are completely eliminating “new apparel” from our diets for one year. Yes, the next time you see us sporting new tags it will be Sept. 2, 2011. Sound easy? Well think again. This is going to be a stretch for most of us. You see, like most women we are attached to our wardrobes in some form or another. In fact buying a new something-or-other is as natural as a dark chocolate pick-me-up. We all have our reasons for embarking on this project but it all gets down to this…who are we without something hip and new in our closets? We shall see.”

Visit the site, The Great American Apparel Diet. If you are not a full convert of thrift, I understand some reluctance. At least review the site, there is a very funny support group in constant discussion. If you just try, I promise it will change the way you think.

To be clear. This is not anti-retail. This is smart and resourceful retail. Think of all the items that go unneeded and unused in homes across America. If they were tossed into the market, our shopping would be stronger and a bit more economically sustainable. The retail market at large could easily be a salt and peppered mix of new and reuse. If we were to significantly up the percentage of reused product in the market, we'd be lowering the carbon foot print of our shopping. On this, please refer to an opinion I wrote some time ago for The Christian Science Monitor, "We count calories. Why not carbon?"

Join already! Either dive in or get those toes wet. Just try.

The Tiny Home Movement

A friend Ms Gently Used produced this segment on PBS's Need to Know, Living Large: A look into the tiny house movement.

Do take the 10 minutes to watch the segment. It's inspiring; it really is. Ha! And many Americans would think the Golightly home small at 1,800 square feet. It fits us just fine.

My only dilemma with a tiny home would be what to do with my childrens book library. I plan on being the grandmother who reads to her grandchildren someday. Things are changing so fast, I want my legacy to have books land in little hands.

Air their dirty laundry

Catherine over at The Vegan Good Life sent me another great story. I’m not a germaphobe, but do draw the line on buying underwear at thrift stores, even though they have the original retail tag still dangling.

I love debunking conventional retail myths. Here’s one on, yup, dirty underwear from The Today Show.

So again, I say wash ALL clothes when you bring them from ANY store.

You just might be paying a full price on something used in conventional retail stores.

So why should thrift be so gross?

Thanks Catherine!

Gottcha!

Catherine over at The Vegan Good Life passed over a piece from ABC’s "Good Morning America", How Clean Are Your New Clothes?. I knew this phenomenon was true from my experiences, once described in the post What’s the bait and where’s the switch. But I didn’t have scientific evidence. This bit of news offers up the possibility of that new blouse, sitting in that shopping bag with fluffed tissue paper and tags still dangling might not be the clean item you think you paid for.

Readers know I’ve been steadily poking holes in the conventional retail notion, “If it’s not new, it’s eww!” This GMA article is but another piece debunking this conventional retail-based (not fact-based) notion that ill-informed consumers are literally buying into.

If this GMA post doesn’t gross you out. I defer to another post, Perhaps new is eww. Human teeth found in “new” products? This stuff sounds more like an archeological dig than a conventional retail store. Or, maybe a TV crime scene.

I’ve been noticing more written articles delicately addressing thrift store aversions. To think some people would consider it a mark of shame to bump into an acquaintance in a thrift store. Good grief! Do we really need to be delicate and soothing about this matter? Are Americans that snobby? All I can offer is my personal experience followed up with a loud “Get over yourself!” I run into my friends at the local thrift like it’s the neighborhood coffee shop. Then again, most of us don’t have cable TV and we do things together like camping. Our children’s clothes are lovingly passed on to friends with younger siblings who proudly wear them. Some of these garments are on their third generation. I guess some Americans would call my daughters deprived considering what I’ve just written combined with the fact that we don’t have a “Wii” to go for a run or hike “we” actually get out side and do it.

As usual, I apologize for being so snarky and, uh, painfully direct. Like I always say, in the words of my family’s matriarch, “Someone’s gotta!”

If you are a new visitor to this blog, be certain to scroll back up and pull up the Thrift Catalog slide show featuring over 240 items. This could give you an idea of what could be waiting for you. Also check to the Table of Blog Contents to read on how to incorporate thrift into your life in Thrift Store Conventions.

Perhaps New is Ewww!

For those of you who think thrift stores are dirty places, I offer this bite, excuse me, bit of news from the Associated Press, Wal-Mart customer finds teeth in wallet. I'm certain attorneys will work with this gentleman for an undisclosed amount of money to hush this up right fast. Just a sampling to reveal the new products retail market just might not be as clean as one might expect like the situation I faced in What's the bait and where's the switch?

This information came vis a vis blogger extraordinaire and National Thrift Store Petition backer, The Q Speaks. When Amanda Quraishi speaks, one might want to listen as she has recently been listed as a 2009 Honoree for National Women’s History Month. If I ever write an alphabet book for girls, Q is for Quraishi.

Shortly after I wrote this, a thrifty reader found another item of dirty interest from Wal-Mart and sent it my way. I am not specifically picking on Wal-Mart, they just happen to be in the news this week. Looks like there will be another undisclosed settlement.

But there is a lesson here. Maybe, just maybe new product retailers are not as up front with us as we'd like to think.

On the flip side, there is a certain gentlemen following every news agency that ran the opinion piece I wrote for The Christian Science Monitor declaring that thrift stores spray pesticide and fungicide on all their clothing. This gentleman cites no source but I'm sadly certain his rumor is discussed. My friends at Goodwill and ARC are developing their response to this bit that sniffs of myth.

Secondhand Clothes used as a “Poor Me” in a campaign for US Congress! Get out of town!

One of the Thrifty Chicks tenets is to put an end to this silly, spoiled, wasteful notion that if it’s not NEW it’s EWW! I have to wonder if we are the only country in this world to have such a spoiled, wasteful idea of what is acceptable to wear.

I live in Colorado. During this 2008 election, Colorado US Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave ran a TV commercial portraying her life’s obstacles. One obstacle was “secondhand clothes.” I’m not kidding! This raised my hackles!

My husband, the youngest of five boys wore them. Even as an only child, I wore them when given. My youngest daughter happily accepts them from her older sister. She loves them because she loves her sister and wants to be like her. I've given baby clothes to my friends and delight seeing these tender dresses resurrected on the sweet little bodies of my friends children.

This is the exact kind of simple-minded thinking we must change. We can no longer aspire to be so wasteful and ungrateful. Even though I am not in her district, I would not cast a pity vote for Congresswoman Musgrave because she wore second hand clothes as a child. In many ways, I had a very similar childhood to hers, and I don’t think that makes me qualified to be a US Congresswoman. I find her commercial to be an insult of monumental proportion.